"Sleepwalker" was originally released about eighteen months agoas the official Comic Relief game with a percentage of theprofits from each game going to Comic Relief (not a bad idea!).It has now been re-released on Ocean's budget label - The HitSquad. As a sucker for anything that puts the STE hardwarethrough its paces, and at the lower price, how could I resist?

The Game

In "Sleepwalker" you play the part of Ralph the faithful poochwhose cute master, Lee, has the rather nasty habit ofsleepwalking. Normally he just walks around the room a couple oftimes and gets back into bed, no harm done, but this time Leeescapes out of an open window into the dark city night. The game starts with a nice title page where Lee is seensleepwalking and Ralph frantically chasing him back and forthacross the screen through the word sleepwalker. The animation issmooth and beautifully executed. There's a nice bouncysoundtrack (in stereo of course) which changes tempo as eachcharacter walks across the screen; slow for Lee, fast and franticfor Ralph. Pressing the fire button starts the game. Hitting the space barenters the options screen where you can set the difficulty levelto either easy or hard, the number of attempts (lives) to threeor five (guess which one I set it to?), or select to play thetraining level. This a simple level with instructions instrategic positions telling you what to do in order to completeit successfully. Press space to exit the options menu and startthe game. Before the actual game gets under way though, you are treated toa short animation showing Lee fast asleep then suddenly gettingup and sleepwalking, treading on Ralph as he does so, andescaping out of the window followed closely by the now very muchawake Ralph. The whole thing is accompanied by the voice ofLenny Henry as Ralph relating the story to us. Then the game begins...

As Ralph you must guide Lee, "Lemmings" style, through the citystreets, zoo, graveyard, and construction site, making sure heavoids the numerous hazards that could disturb his deep slumberand awaken him - which proves fatal. Ralph has obviously been onthe Pedigree Chum, because he's as hard as nails and seems to beable to withstand being run over, torched, electrocuted,squashed, eaten, plus numerous other things that would haveanimal lovers up in arms. There are also objects ralph needs toavoid or dispose of, such as the dog catcher and bouncer, whichslow him down. Ralph can also give as well as he gets though. He can bashthings with a club momentarily stunning them, kick Lee overobstacles, push or hold him, and bridge gaps in true Supermanstyle allowing Lee to walk across him safely, amongst otherthings. Should Lee awake for any reason then you lose one attempt andrestart the current level from a position close to where Lee lastawoke. When all your attempts have gone, you will start from thebeginning of the current level. There are also items that can be collected that giveinvulnerability, put Lee into an even deeper sleep and extraattempts. In each level there are five balloons, each with aletter on them that when collected spell B-O-N-U-S. If you havedone that, at the end of the level you will enter the bonuslevel. This takes place on a landscape similar to the level justcompleted, the object being that you have to run around andcollect as many red balloons as possible within the time limit.Every twenty balloons collected is rewarded with an extraattempt. There are also an extra eighty-four icons featured inthe bonus levels that when collected in the correct order, spellout something nasty that Ralph would like to see happen to Lee.For example, collecting PIG + EO + NS = PIGEONS. Simple, eh? Ifyou collect the right icons in the right order a congratulationsmessage will be heard. When the bonus stage is completed youwill see what happens as a result.

The graphics throughout the game are excellent. Each levelfeatures well drawn distinctive backgrounds that scrolleffortlessly in every direction without so much as a jerk orflicker to be seen! The characters are superbly animated too,with a great deal of attention paid to detail and humour. Thesound is also pretty good with humourous sound FX accompanyingthe action. A nice touch here is that the sound FX fade in andout as you approach and pass its source.

Conclusion

"Sleepwalker" is a very slick, well polished, challenging gamethat really shows off the STE. It has excellent graphics andsound, and is both frustrating and addictive. If you missed it first time round then buy it now because thereduced price makes it even better value for money!

Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared
in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s)
was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes,
bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and
tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact
and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any
kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are
not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll
texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.